Trade not Aid | Gaza's Ark

Category Archives: Trade not Aid

May 1, 2013 Statements & Releases, Trade not Aid

How is Gaza’s Ark not an aid project?

A number of Palestinian civil society organizations have said very clearly: they do not want to depend on humanitarian aid; they need their freedom to live in dignity. The economy of Gaza has been very prosperous in the past; it can be again in the future. To get there, the entire humanitarian “aid” in the world will be insufficient without the political will to end the blockade.

The economic contribution of a boat with 40 cubic meters of goods is necessarily symbolic: the important thing is the political gesture to assert the Palestinians’ right to freedom of movement and economic sovereignty. Our slogan is not so much against aid as it is also for (fair) trade, and more broadly, in favor of economic sovereignty.

April 14, 2013 From Gaza, In the media, Trade not Aid

Gaza farmers burn tons of basil, mint after Israel border shut

April 13, 2013 12:45 PMBy Nidal al-Mughrabi

Palestinian walk across his land that he planted with tress and surrounded with traditional stone-built walls in the village of Ein Yabrud, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, on June 10, 2012. AFP PHOTO / ABBAS MOMANI

GAZA: Palestinian farmers in Gaza began destroying three tonnes of herbs on Saturday, saying a prolonged closure of the crossing into Israel meant the plants were no longer fit for export to Europe.

April 12, 2013 In the media, Trade not Aid

Protests in Gaza and 40 European cities urge end to trade with Israeli agriculture firms

Palestinian farming organisations and campaigners in more than 40 European cities held demonstrations Tuesday calling for governments and supermarkets to end trade with Israeli agricultural export companies over their role in the destruction of Palestinian agriculture.

Photo from Tuesday’s demonstration in Gaza (Photo: Joe Catron)

April 8, 2013 From Gaza, In the media, Trade not Aid

Gazans struggle with high rate of unemployment

Published on Apr 6, 2013

PressTV

Israel’s constant closure of crossings and Egypt’s crackdown on tunnels between its border and the Gaza Strip have deteriorated the already battered economy of the blockaded territory.

This has resulted in high unemployment rate among the impoverished population.

According to the United Nations Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) unemployment rate in Gaza is one of the highest in the world.

Source

April 7, 2013 In the media, Trade not Aid

UN suspends food and cash distribution, leaving Gaza destitute

Palestinians collect food aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip (AFP Photo/Said Khatib)

The UN has suspended operation of all of its food distribution outlets in Gaza following protesters storming one of them. The centers will resume operation when the UN Relief and Works Agency gets safety confirmation for its property and staff.

April 6, 2013 In the media, Trade not Aid

UN aid agency suspends Gaza distribution

5 April 2013

Fears the move could exacerbate hardship caused by controls on the isolated enclave's borders

A Palestinian woman takes part in a symbolic military funeral for Maysara Abu Hamdeya in Gaza City yesterday. Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters

The main United Nations humanitarian agency for Palestinians has suspended operations in the Gaza Strip after demonstrators angered by aid cutbacks stormed its headquarters.

April 5, 2013 In the media, Trade not Aid

Products from the colonies: Labeling or prohibition?

by Christophe Perrin on April 5, 2013

Source
Swiss food giant Migros to differentiate between products made in Israel and made in Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine. (Photo: Keystone)

The Netherlands are about to ask Dutch commercial distributors to implement labelling measures for the identification of products from Israeli colonies. England and Denmark have already taken similar measures. Like those two countries, the Dutch authorities do not intend to institute any sanctions to compel distribution networks to observe these "recommendations". Announcing these measures, it made this important point: "the import of products from the colonies is not illegal."

April 2, 2013 In the media, Trade not Aid

IOA closes Gaza sole commercial crossing for 4th day running

[ 01/04/2013 - 09:48 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) continued to close on Monday the sole Gaza commercial crossing of Karm Abu Salem for the fourth day running.

Raed Fattuh, in charge of coordinating entry of goods into the Strip, said that the IOA informed his department with closure of the crossing on Sunday and Monday while it closes it on Friday and Saturday every week.

The IOA had closed Karm Abu Salem for 17 days in March for Jewish feasts and for security pretexts.

The closure affects the life of one million and seven hundred thousand Palestinian inhabitants of the coastal enclave and leads to shortages in basic supplies in addition to fuel, gas, and constructions materials. It also affects quantity of aid delivered by UNRWA to more than a million Palestinians.

Source

March 28, 2013 In the media, Trade not Aid

“Trade not aid” focus of new attempt to break Gaza blockade

Eva Bartlett

The Electronic Intifada

Gaza City

27 March 2013

Israel continues to violate a ceasefire agreement signed in November which expanded the fishing limit off Gaza’s shores.

(Ezz Al-Zanoon / APA images)

GAZA CITY (IPS) – “An ark is literally a large floating vessel designed to keep its passengers and cargo safe,” according to the group preparing Gaza’s Ark. But its is “a vessel that embodies hope that the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip can soon live in peace without the threat of the Israeli blockade.”

March 27, 2013 From Gaza, In the media, Trade not Aid

Now Gaza’s Ark Prepares to Dare Israel

By Eva Bartlett

Palestinian fishers are hit hard by the Israeli blockade on Gaza. Credit: Emad Badwan/IPS.

IPS News

Palestinian fishers are hit hard by the Israeli blockade on Gaza. Credit: Emad Badwan/IPS.

GAZA CITY, Mar 27 2013 (IPS) – “An ark is literally a large floating vessel designed to keep its passengers and cargo safe,” say the group preparing ‘Gaza’s Ark’. But their ark, they say, is “a vessel that embodies hope that the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip can soon live in peace without the threat of the Israeli blockade.”

An initiative by Palestinians in Gaza and international solidarity activists, Gaza’s Ark entails “purchasing a run-down boat from a local fishing family,” says Michael Coleman, a member of Free Gaza Australia and on the Gaza’s Ark steering committee.